The Center on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it would appoint a lawyer for Nimisha Priya, a woman from Kerala. Nimisha Priya was sentenced to death for the murder of a Yemeni civilian in Sanaa, Yemen in 2017. The government has said that it will try to challenge the sentence before the next appellate court by appointing a lawyer.
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan gave this reply on Thursday on a Kerala woman facing death sentence in Yemen. He said that with regard to the death sentence awarded to Nimisha Priya, the government is making every effort to ensure that she is brought back safely. Not only this, he said that the appellate court had upheld the decision of the lower court. That’s why we have decided to go to the Supreme Court.
Who is Nimisha Priya and why was she sentenced to death?
Nimisha Priya hails from Kerala, India. Nimisha was found guilty of the murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdu Mahadi. It is alleged that on July 25, 2017, he dismembered her body and dumped its parts in a water tank. Nimisha is a trained nurse and worked in private hospitals in Yemen for a few years. In 2014, she joined hands with Mahdi to set up her own clinic in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. He sought Mahdi’s support, because under Yemen law, only its citizens are allowed to set up clinics and business firms. Later the relationship between the two deteriorated and Mahadi started torturing her. To escape from his clutches, Nimisha killed him.
After starting the clinic, Mahadi started taking all his money himself. When Nimisha asked him about money, both of them got into a fight. Later he threatened her, made forged documents to marry her according to her religion and brutally tortured her. Soon, Nimisha’s life turns into hell.
According to a news website in Kerala, Mahadi confiscated his passport. This was done to ensure that she would not leave Yemen. He used to torture her under the influence of drugs. Threatened him several times at gunpoint. He took all the money from the clinic and its ornaments. Unable to deal with the harassment, Nimisha complained to the police. They arrested Mahadi and put him behind the bars. On his return from prison the severity of the torture increased manifold.
Nimisha soon realized that Mahadi would not let her live in peace. So he started plotting to kill her. She found a colleague in Hanan, a Yemeni nurse who worked with her. Both injected Mahadi with an overdose of anesthetic. Mahadi died within a few hours. But both could not find a place to bury him. So they cut her into pieces, put them in a polythene bag and threw them in the water tank of her apartment.